TORONTO — You have to crawl before you can walk, walk before you can run, run before you can do whatever the heck comes after running and before dying.

And basically, the 2009-10 Nets are somewhere between curled into a fetal position and spitting up. Now they compete but can’t close out. And it’s becoming a familiar spot.

“We were right there. They had a few easy transition points, things didn’t go our way, and it got away,” said center Brook Lopez. “I’ve rehearsed this a lot.”

Not the way to attract free agents, like Raptor Chris Bosh, who repeated his contention that New Jersey appears as attractive as a rat’s nest as a possible landing spot.

For a fourth straight game, the Nets were competitive and alive in the fourth quarter, thanks to a blistering, second unit-led, energy-induced 30-7 first-half sledgehammer. But for a fourth straight game, the Nets wilted late. The Raptors, with three key pieces in the infirmary, did all the things down the stretch the Nets could not and rolled up a 108-99 victory here last night.

“What I took out of tonight’s game is when we’re very aggressive defensively, when we don’t just go one-on-one and settle for long shots, we’re pretty good,” said interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe. “But we’re not good enough to take any plays off.”

Which they do lots. Witness the 4-44 record that puts them on course for a worst-ever 7-victory NBA season. More importantly, it turns off the likes of free agent-to-be Bosh, who began a critical, 90-second, 6-0 run with two scores early in the fourth that upped Toronto’s lead to 10 and started the Nets’ irreversible dip. Bosh reiterated he would not consider the Nets.

“No, my feeling hasnt changed. It has always been the same,” the 6-10 Bosh (20 points) said about the Nets, in whom he sees only losing. “I can only speak for myself but I think guys heading into free agency, they just look for somewhere that they feel they can win. Winning is the biggest part of it. You have to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

So is there any light for the Nets? Or is that just the high beams of an 18-wheeler about to run them over?

“It depends on what they do in the offseason, the moves they’re thinking about doing,” Bosh, 25, added.

The trading deadline is approaching and team president Rod Thorn admitted he doesn’t foresee any significant move.

“It sure doesn’t look like it,” said Thorn. “There are still 15 days, but I don’t see anything for us. Of course, that could change as we get closer.”

Unfortunately, he saw the Nets — who had six double figure scorers including Devin Harris (15 points, 8 assists, 4-of-17 shooting) and Yi Jianlian (15 points) — act out a tired plot. They were down 11 in the first quarter as ex-Net Antoine Wright (18 points) hurt them deep.

So the bench outscored the Raptor subs, 19-2, in the second quarter behind Chris Douglas-Roberts (8 points) and Kris Humphries (13 points 11 rebounds) to go up 12. But the Raptors responded, led by five after three quarters and closed it out in the fourth.

⇒ Thorn said assistant John Loyer will receive more duties and essentially become Del Harris after the veteran coach resigned Tuesday. Vandeweghe said “Everyone has to step up a little bit. Del added a lot obviously . . . I appreciate the time he was here. He had a wonderful position, a highly-paid position in Chicago, left that, left a lot of money on the table, went home to be with his family. And he came to help a friend.”